Career
When an interviewer asks you, “Are you good at multitasking?” Your immediate reaction may be to say, “Yes, of course!” That’s what the interviewer wants to hear, right? However, interviewers should reword the question. But since that may not happen, here’s how you need to reply. Read more “Multitasking: What Interviewers Really Mean”
Productivity
Working from home is often linked to increased productivity. But while distractions in the home office are different from the distractions in a traditional office, they still exist. Work-from-home distractions require a concentrated effort to ensure you stay on track. Here are 7 remote workers face and ways to combat them. Read more “7 Work-From-Home Distractions (And How to Combat Them)”
Career
Privileged explaining is when someone explains something in a patronizing tone because they think there is no way the subject could possibly know it on his or her own. Mansplaining is one of the most egregious examples, but certainly not the only one. Read more “Mansplaining: The verbal glass ceiling of the workplace”
Career
After nearly a decade of working in editorial departments, internal marketing agencies, and ad agencies, after being on staff, a contractor, a freelancer, and now small business owner (at least that’s how the government classifies me), I’ve received a lot of (mostly good) advice.
But to this day, there’s one piece of advice a mentor and one-time manager gave me that sticks out above anything else.
Career
I’m not one to advocate “banning” anything, least of all words. But, there’s one exception:
Remote Work
Remote working, working from home, working in pajamas: call it what you want, it’s still work. And one of my biggest challenges is not just getting traditional employers to understand that, but my peers.
I recently told a friend about a 100% remote company I work for, and how it’s great to work with others who understand the nuances of a non-traditional office. The friend started conjecturing about what an all-remote workforce means, describing employees in the same way South Park portrays its World of Warcraft guy — a complete stereotype. Here’s everything traditional 9-5ers need to understand about remote-work life. Read more “7 Things Friends Need to Know About Remote Working”
Creativity
I hear a lot about job security these days. Being married to someone in the military, it’s clear government jobs come with an unprecedented amount of longevity compared with the private sector.
Of course, there’s a level of unease in any job, including my husband’s. But that’s because he and many of his colleagues have never held a non-government job; their fear is of the unknown. As a freelancer I’ve got 0 job security. And that’s a good thing for me and my clients. Here’s why.
Creativity
Recently working with a client-who-shall-not-be-named, I was running into a wall trying to get him to explain how his agency’s work benefited one of its clients.
“No, you’re missing the big idea we executed,” the client said. “I want it to reflect that intellect, wit … it won awards, everyone loved it …”
“That’s great,” I replied. “But what did it do for your client?”
Freelance
Freelance copywriting sounds glamorous to all my friends. “You get to work at a coffeeshop, and travel, and blog!” But as a freelancer, I take on way more roles than simply “copywriter.” Much of it isn’t glamorous. Here are the top 5 (and a half … you’ll see …) jobs I find myself doing on a daily basis, plus ways to tackle these non-copywriting challenges.
Productivity
Whenever I’m working with a new client, there’s always the awkward money dance: “What’s your hourly rate?”
I cringe.
Not because it’s a hard question to answer. I cringe because hourly rates, while necessary, aren’t an accurate gauge of of the ultimate cost to client. Read more “The Smarter Alternative to Hourly Pricing”